Ancient Greeks, The Most Advanced Race For Their Time One has to wonder why the ancient Greeks were so much more advanced than most of the rest of the people on earth. If we just look at some of the things they invented and their philosophy, we can see how much of it was ahead of its time. Yes there were other advanced races such as the ancient Egyptians, but it seems the Greeks were far ahead of them although they would probably have to be listed as the second most advanced race of their time with the Minoans. We are talking about some very ancient races. The ancient Greeks seem to have it all. They had superior technology when it came to mechanics. When the scientists discovered what the Antikythera mechanism really was it blew their mind. It used technology which was about 1,500 years ahead of its time. It turned out to be a mechanical computer which could predict future positions of the planets, and such. This was not the only reason the scientists were dumbfounded. Another reason was the fact it had hand cut metal gears which were cut with great precision. Before that object was found, they had believed metal gears didn’t get invented until the middle ages and were first used in clocks. One might say the ancient Egyptians were better builders and talk about the Great Pyramid for example. There is no doubt it was one of the greatest buildings in the ancient world, but some believe it has a rival in the Parthenon in Athens. Not only is that building incredible but illusion was used in its construction. When scientists examined the building, they realized the columns were not exactly perpendicular. They wondered why this would be in such an incredible structure, then they realized it was built that way on purpose because when you view the entire building it makes the columns look incredibly straight. It was built in such a way it resists earthquakes and that is why it is still standing after all these years. Did you ever wonder why the columns weren’t built in one piece? It was because if you built them in layers they would become earthquake resistant. There have been three different types of earthquake resistance built into the building. The ancient Greeks were another race that figured out how to move stones weighing over 1,000 tons. While they invented the first crane, it could hardly have lifted these stones, so again we have an ancient race with the knowledge which was lost, moving very heavy stones. Some ancient Greek inventions seemed impossible for the time. I am not only talking about the ancient Greek computer, but inventions like a programmed robotic device. Philon was an engineer and he created a robot which could be programmed 2,200 years ago. Yes, I know this sounds impossible, but it is true. It worked using a complex mix of springs, weights and air pressure. The robot had human form and the robot could pour and mix wine when a cup was placed into its hand. Not bad for a device from the 3rd century B.C. I have said this before, but it is worth repeating. If the ancient Greeks could have continued without interruption they would have advanced the world another thousand years or more. By the time the first millennia would have come about we probably would have already been where we are today. One of the greatest Greek inventions was the steam engine. It was a very primitive version, but the basics were there. The engine was named the Aeolipile. It was basically a metal ball mounted over a fire. The ball had two exhaust angled exhaust pipes, one on each side of the ball. As the fire heated the water inside the ball, steam would be created and exit through the pipes making the ball rotate. It was invented by Hero the great ancient Greek inventor. Oh, if he only would have built on that invention they might have had steam powered trains a hundred years later. While Hero was a Greek inventor he live in Alexandria in Egypt which seemed to be the brain trust of the ancient Greek world for inventions. Some of the ancient Greek inventions were so advanced they are still used today. You can thank the ancient Greeks for the alarm clock. The mechanisms would beat a drum for example. They were not like modern clocks; they were water clocks. One inventor took the water clock and added a mechanism with a dial for telling the time. Plato, who lived between 428 and 348 B.C. had one of these alarm clocks. The Greeks perfected geometry. The great Thales of Miletus is regarded as the father of geometry. I think most of us have heard about the Hippocratic oath. It is an oath doctors take which sets the ethical standards for doctors and was designed by Hippocrates who is considered one of the world’s first true doctors. Most other races of the time attributed disease to evil spells and magic, but not Hippocrates, he stated they had natural causes. He became known as the father of western medicine. The ancient Greeks were great thinkers. They thought about everything in their time. Some even believed as some do today that extraterrestrials existed. That fact might surprise you. This was not a popular theory among Greeks at the time, but surprisingly, people like the philosopher Anaxagoras said he believed aliens could exist and they might be living on the moon. When I first heard this it made me think of the astronauts when they first landed on the moon and it was discovered there had been a secret communication back to NASA using the medical channel by them stating they were being watched by extraterrestrials which had lined up their UFOs on the rim of a crater. We tend to think inventions like the organ have only been around a couple of hundred years. This is false. The ancient Greeks invented an organ powered by water. It was invented by the very talented inventor Hero also known as Heron. The next time you see a fire engine racing to a fire, think about Hero again, because he invented the first fire engine. Why aren’t we more advanced today than we are? Oddly enough, we can thank the Romans for that. I know we also learned a lot from them, but it didn’t makeup for their destruction of the great library in Alexandra. It was said to be the most incredible place in the world at the time because it contained tens of thousands of records of inventions and other things which are completely lost today. It just shows how destructive and far sighted humans can be.
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